This invention pertains to telescoping rods, e.g. telescoping curtain rods. More specifically, the invention pertains to multi-segmented rods having a range of lengths extending from a minimum length to a maximum length.
The widths of spaces to be covered with curtains or drapes vary greatly. In order to accommodate such spaces, fixed length curtain rods must be made in a correspondingly large number of lengths. Because it is economically impractical for curtain rod suppliers to stock rods in such a large number of sizes, fixed rods must often be custom made thereby increasing their cost and resulting in an often undesirable delay before the rods are available for use.
The aforementioned problems associated with fixed rods have been overcome through the use of adjustable rods. It is known in the art to provided curtain rods having multiple segments slidably connected whereby one segment can be received in another for telescoping movement to extend or retract the multi-segmented rod over a continuous range between a minimum length and a maximum length.
The minimum length is achieved by having the rod segment with a smaller transverse dimension, e.g., diameter, fully or almost fully received within a segment having a larger transverse dimension or diameter. The maximum length of such a multi-segmented telescoping rod is achieved by having the rod segment with a smaller transverse dimension fully extend from the segment having the larger transverse dimension or diameter, except for a small overlap between the segments which is required to keep the segments from sagging or completely separating.
Although prior art telescoping rods perform their function admirably, insofar as providing consumers with “off-the-shelf” rods which can be purchased at minimal cost and without the delays associated with custom rods, they are still inefficient. In order to accommodate a large range of lengths, even multi-segmented rods must be stocked in many sizes to prevent gaps in the lengths of available curtain rods available to consumers.
Prior art rods intended to span greater distances than those intended to span lesser distances are generally fabricated with segments having proportionally greater lengths. This requires that rod segments of numerous lengths be manufactured and that telescoping rods having various ranges be stocked. In order to avoid gaps in the range of available coverages, there is usually a redundancy between telescoping curtain rods having different ranges.